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Anyway, over the last 25 years, the majority of French car manufacturers have been synonymous with creating affordable cars for the masses. Bulbous MPVs to cart your family around in or compact city cars to navigate congested town centres. That is, apart from Renault.
Renault has always had their hand in the motorsport pie. Be it through rallying or Formula One, from the 70s through to present day, Renault’s motorsport presence has also benefited from a conjoined road car offering.
In the late 90s, Renault had just emerged from state ownership and were keen to showcase their second generation supermini, the Clio, to the world. Buoyed on by a fresh injection of cash and a seemingly bottomless marketing budget, Renault under their performance division Renaultsport, decided to launch a one make race series to promote it. They tasked Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) of Jaguar Le Mans fame to prepare the car and the end result was a little more than most had bargained for.
The car was sliced in half with a brand new rear subframe installed where the back seats used to sit in order to house a race tuned 3 Litre V6 engine. Power was delivered to the rear wheels with a comprehensively reworked chassis and suspension setup. The finished product harked back to the Renault 5 Turbo of the 80s. Bulging wheel arches housed huge 18inch wheels while substantial intakes to the rear of the car allowed the engine to breathe properly… and the Clio V6 was born.
The rose tinted spectacles didn’t last long though and a global recession combined with a general lack of practicality saw Clio V6 prices take a nosedive. In fact, if you had been brave enough to pull the trigger on one of these between 2010-13, you would have paid somewhere in the region of £13-15k for a tidy phase 2 example (hindsight’s a lovely thing!).
Fast forward to present day and the Clio V6 has gained a cult following akin to Ferrari F50’s and McLaren F1’s. Its flaws have been long forgotten and at time of writing, it is possibly the hottest modern classic on the market right now. Prices have inevitably skyrocketed and good, low mileage phase 2 cars are changing hands from anywhere between £60-80k. A delivery mileage example in a rare colour is now a six figure conversation.
“But why?” I hear you ask, “it’s a Renault Clio”. You see the V6 was spawn in a time when you could still smoke in the office and Concorde roamed the skies. The reality is, in today’s penny pinching, nanny state, neither Renault nor any other mainstream manufacturer will ever have the chance to make a car like the Clio V6 again. Yes there are faster, better and newer cars you could spend your money on, but that is somewhat missing the point. Not only will it put a smile on your face every time you see it, but in the turbulent world we currently live in, it is a great physical asset to park some cash and we firmly believe prices have a lot further to rally.
Written by Greg Evans from Contemporary Classics for Charles & Dean Finance.
“Contemporary Classics is an industry leading Car Investment Dealership created to highlight the value of modern cars as a viable alternative investment. Using fundamental and technical analysis of cars and their valuation curves, our goal is to enable enthusiasts and collectors alike to invest in modern cars which we believe possess the traits to make them future classics as well as appreciating assets. At the same time, we believe cars are meant to be driven and want to make sure that all the cars we consider investments are also being enjoyed by their owners on a regular basis.”
Written by
Charles & Dean
